Sleep It Up
by percabethanpuckabrinaforevs
Summary: Nobody knew that the monsters bothered her every night. In fact, she didn't even know where the monsters came from. But finally in a long, long, time, she actually felt safe being asleep. The monsters couldn't bother her if he were there to stop them.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Shake it Up, or else all episodes would be done and aired every single day. I HATE long waits in between episodes, but I guess that's why I'm writing this one-shot right now. Sorry if you don't like it, but I don't really have a lot of history on Shake it Up characters, because I don't watch the episodes in order, so it's kind of like whatever I know, I go with.**

"Mom! How could you? I thought you loved and trusted me!" Cece shrieked at her mother.

"Love you? Of course, honey. Trust you? Not so much. Cece, it's one night." Georgia reasoned.

The argument was about that Friday night. Cece's mother, Georgia Jones-Hunter, had the night shift. Mr. Jeremy Hunter, Cece's step father, and Georgia's new husband, was out on a business trip and wasn't returning until the following week.

And who had Georgia made in charge in her absence? Jeremy's know-it-all, stupid, dumb, smarty-pants son, Logan!

"You should have left me in charge!" Cece shouted.

From their place on the couch, Logan and Flynn glanced at each other and smirked. Leave it to Cece to go nuts over something so small. Still, this meant that Logan could use it as leverage over her. They both loved teasing her; she made it so easy.

"Why don't you hang out with Rocky until it's time for bed like you would anyway?" An exasperated Georgia huffed.

"Because Rocky is not home! Remember? Dr. Blue is back for this week, so Mrs. Blue decided to take the four of them out for the whole week. She won't be back until Sunday." Cece snapped.

"Look, Cece, I have to go. We can continue this conversation later." Georgia flew out of the house, relieved.

Cece groaned.

"Really, Sissy, you shouldn't be like that." Logan scolded, trying to hold back laughs. "Besides, I'm seventeen-years-old. How old are you again?"

"Sixteen." Cece mumbled, storming into the kitchen.

"Exactly." Satisfied, Logan turned back to the video game. He had quit trying to goad Cece into fights about a week after their parents had married. She was looking for excuses to argue with him, anyway.

Cece didn't say anything, just poured milk into a cup and dropped some hot chocolate powder and marshmallows after it.

"Make me some?" Flynn asked, after he saw what she was doing.

"Make your own." Cece growled, disappearing into her bedroom.

"Someone's grumpy today." Flynn called after her.

Her response was a slammed door.

Around six, there was a knock on the door.

"I'LL GET IT, LOGAN!" Flynn shouted, racing for it.

He threw the door back to reveal Henry.

"Hello, my less-qualified, video-game loving friend." Henry greeted him. He entered and meekly threw his bag onto the couch.

"Um, Flynn? What's going on?" Logan asked.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Mom said that Henry could sleepover tonight. I guess she forgot that she wasn't going to be home. Do you want me to kick him out?" Flynn looked at Logan with a puppy dog face.

Logan sighed resignedly. "No, that's okay, he can stay."

"YES!" The two boys picked up the controllers and began playing a competitive game of some zombie video game.

"What are we having for dinner?" Logan questioned.

"Mom said to order pizza. There's money on the counter." Flynn answered.

"Is everybody okay with cheese?" Logan yelled, competing with the TV volume.

"Yup." Flynn shouted back.

"Cheese, although admittedly not the healthiest choice on the menu, is fascinatingly delicious, and so I do agree with my friend Flynn that cheese is quite alright for tonight's meal." Henry nodded.

Logan raised his eyebrow, but decided not to comment on Henry's above average answer. "What about your sister?"

"She's your sister, too, now. Go ask her." Flynn replied. "Besides, you're in charge. She can't physically hurt you until Mom gets home."

"That's comforting to know." Logan grabbed his cell phone and padded over to Cece's door.

"Hey, Sissy?" He knocked.

"What do you want?" Logan winced when Cece's sharp voice rang out.

"We're ordering pizza. Are you okay with cheese?"

"I'm not eating anything." Cece responded.

"How can you not eat anything? It's almost seven and we haven't had dinner. You can't just not eat!" Logan briefly wondered if Cece had some kind of eating disorder, but quickly discarded the thought. He had seen that girl tear through cake, pie, cookies, and ice cream without a single second thought, without even getting sick afterwards!

"I'm busy." Cece shouted. "Call me if something important happens!"

"Okay, okay." Logan sighed, and quickly dialed Crusty's Pizza, placing his order. He also placed a request that Deuce deliver. Logan knew that ever since Ty had been gone, Deuce had been extra clingy to Dina. Logan was sure she would be grateful for a couple hours of freedom.

"It smells great." Deuce sighed, breathing in the heavenly scent of delicious pizza.

"For sure." Flynn agreed, grabbing a plastic plate.

"Yo, Ariel, you comin'?" Deuce hollered down at Cece's door.

"Later!" Cece yelled back.

"What's she doing in there?" Deuce asked, turning his attention to Logan.

"Good question." Logan snorted. "I have no idea. So long as she's not doing anything dangerous or illegal, I'm good with it."

"Maybe she's studying?" Henry suggested. The four of them considered the option for a moment, before simultaneously bursting out in laughter.

"Sleeping Beauty? Studying? Don't make me laugh!" Deuce chuckled, which really didn't make any sense, since he was already laughing.

"Why do you call her all those Disney names?" Logan asked, suddenly curious.

"Cece used to love Disney shows when we were little. She would always tell me that someday she would find out that she was some secret princess or something, and then she would find a prince or whatever. So I call her Ariel because of her hair, Sleeping Beauty, or Briar Rose, because she could sleep through a demolition derby, Snow White because she loves apple pie, Belle because she's always dancing, uh, Tiana because she wants to start her own business when she grows up, Alice because once she had a white rabbit, Jasmine because she's got this weird infatuation with tigers, and Cinderella because she's always in her dreamland." As Deuce finished, Logan realized that he still had a lot to learn about his new family.

"I think I'm just going to stick with Sissy." Logan finally replied.

"Princess Sissy." Deuce suggested.

"Good idea. That should get on her nerves." Logan high-fived him.

They hung out for a little bit longer before Deuce had to leave. Henry and Flynn prepared to go to sleep; unrolling sleeping bags in Flynn's room, and Logan put on his own pajamas, and collapsed on the couch, letting the two boys use the room he was sharing with Flynn. Let it never be said that he was ungenerous.

By nine-thirty, Logan realized that Cece had never come out to have any dinner. He lowered the TV volume and checked on the boys, who were fast asleep.

Shocked, Logan softly knocked on Cece's door.

"What?" Cece's sleepy voice reached his ears.

"You haven't had dinner yet." Logan reminded her.

"I'll have it in a minute." Cece promised, yawning.

Satisfied, Logan returned to the living room and wrapped his thick blanket around himself, watching re-runs of old TV shows.

He dozed off.

A sharp scream echoed through apartment, and Logan jerked awake. Dazed, he leaped up.

The world was still, except for the soft hum of the TV, which he had lowered the volume too.

Wondering if maybe he had dreamt it, Logan checked the time. It was eleven thirty.

The pizza that he'd left out for Cece was still there, untouched. Logan sighed in exasperation. Why wasn't she eating anything?

A soft sob escaped from the area of the bedrooms. Logan dashed over to the boys' room, but Henry and Flynn's faces were totally peaceful.

That only left – Logan bit down on his teeth when another shriek erupted from Cece's bedroom.

From experience, Logan knew that the only room in the house with a lock was the bathroom, so entering her room would be no problem. His only obstacle was what he might find.

Cautiously, Logan turned the handle and slowly pushed the door open.

A half-strangled sob escaped into the night, and Logan leaped back. When it was silent once again, he carefully crept inside.

Cece's bedroom was like any other girl's room, and Logan didn't pay any attention to the details. His concentration was focused on a limp sixteen-year-old girl, who was fast asleep. The blanket was thrown onto the floor, and the pillow had somehow ended up on her vanity table. Cece herself was tangled in her sheets, and Logan could see that her cheeks were wet.

"Cece?" Logan whispered awkwardly.

"NO!" Cece screamed, kicking her legs uselessly, and getting more wrapped up in her sheet.

Logan moved over and quickly shook her. Cece gasped and sat straight up, tears falling from her eyes.

"Hey, it's okay." Logan awkwardly patted her back, unsure what to do.

Cece gazed at him, not quite comprehending that she was safe, and out of her nightmare.

"I'm here." Logan murmured, opening out his arms in an offered hug.

Cece must've thought that he was someone else, because she rushed into the hug. Logan wrapped his arms around her protectively, the way that he thought that he would if Cece was really his little sister, and if he actually, you know, knew her.

"Shh." He whispered soft reassurances into her ear as Cece forced herself to stop crying. He realized that she was trembling.

"Let's get you warm." Logan soothingly rubbed her back. When Cece nodded tearfully, Logan enfolded her into his arms and carried her small body out into the living room.

He carefully set her on the couch and draped his thick blanket around her. Then, he got her some water.

"You didn't eat your dinner." After Cece had managed to stop shaking, Logan couldn't help but let the bossy side of him take over.

"Oh yeah." Cece whispered the first thing she had said since the nightmare.

"Do you want me to warm up your pizza?" Logan offered.

Cece shook her head, positive that anything she ate would just go straight out her mouth again.

"You have to eat something, Cece." Logan warily sat down next to her, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Cece didn't answer, instead focusing her attention on the late night movie marathon that was playing.

"Cece?" When his step sister didn't answer, Logan leaned over and turned the TV off.

Cece frowned, but her eyes glittered sleepily. Logan sighed; it had been a long day for him, too.

"Come on, Princess Sissy. What do you want to eat?" Logan tested out his new nickname for her that Deuce had given him. He was half hoping she would be pleased, half hoping she would start yelling at him. At least she would be doing something other than looking at him, with those big, brown, doe eyes that made him want to hold her and promise that everything would be okay.

"Nothing." The weakness in her voice took Logan by surprise. "I'm not hungry."

"Well, you didn't have any dinner." Logan pointed out.

"Good thing, too, otherwise I'd be puking my guts out." Cece replied, a glimmer of her usual self peeking out in her answer.

"Cece."

"I promise, I'll have breakfast in the morning." Cece quickly promised, hoping that her stomach would settle by then.

"Well, if you promise. Come on; let's get you back to bed, then." Logan stood up.

"No!" Cece gasped loudly, and then shrank away from her step brother.

"What's the matter?" Logan's face was a mask of worry.

"I – I can't sleep." Cece stuttered. She knew it was part truth.

"Are you scared?" Logan's voice had a hint of a tease to it, but it was mostly concern.

"No…" Cece sighed.

"Cece, it was just a nightmare. It'll be okay." Logan reached down to help her up, but Cece edged out of his way again.

Logan sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Look, kiddo, do you just want to sleep here tonight?"

"I'm not sleeping." Cece replied stubbornly, her voice cracking from the obvious tiredness.

Logan counted to ten silently. Then, he got an idea.

He grabbed the remote and deposited it in the kitchen, completely out of reach of any persistent, tired, acting-like-five-year-olds, teenage girls that might be around. Then, he flipped off the lights.

Cece gasped softly once the dark enveloped her. Her mind began rewinding her nightmare, and she had to clamp her mouth shut to keep from screaming when Logan touched her shoulder.

"It's just me." This time, Logan's voice definitely had more than a hint of a tease. "Did I scare little Sissy?"

"Shut up." She mumbled. "I'm still not sleeping, you know."

"Sure." Logan slid onto the couch, sending Cece pressed up against the back.

"What are you doing?" Cece snapped.

"Sleeping." Logan found a way inside the blanket and tightened his arms around Cece, holding her like a teddy bear.

"Logan! Let go!" Cece struggled, but Logan pinned her arms to her side, holding her down so that she was unable to escape from his grip.

"Just sleep, Princess Sissy." Logan suggested.

"How about this? I won't struggle and go to sleep if you drop the 'Sissy'."

"Deal." Logan waited until she ceased struggling before releasing his death grip.

Cece sighed and shifted, using his one arm as a pillow. His other was draped around her in a protective hug.

Cece had never liked the dark, and her nightmare always consumed her whenever her nightlight sputtered out. Tonight, intent on facing her fears, Cece had purposely turned it off. She hadn't felt safe since before her mother had left. But now, with Logan's steady breathing in her ear, a constant sign that she wasn't alone, Cece actually felt safe.

When Logan woke up, Cece was fast asleep, snuggled up to him like a content little baby. Logan let a little brotherly smile settle on his face, before he remembered the boys.

Quickly, he untangled himself from his little sister and rushed to the bathroom, hoping Flynn and Henry didn't wake up before he had breakfast ready. He mentally reminded himself to force Cece to eat something. She had promised, after all.

A few months later, the Jones/Hunter family moved into an actual house a couple blocks away. Flynn and Logan had grabbed rooms with a connecting bathroom between the two, and Cece had gotten her own room, which was much bigger than her last, much to her approval.

"What do you mean, 'Logan is in charge'? I thought you loved and trusted me!" Cece shrieked at her mother, who was inching out the door.

"Come on, Princess, I'm seventeen-years-old. How old are you, again?"

"Sixteen." Cece snapped as she stormed into the now much bigger and more stocked kitchen.

As night settled upon them, Logan collapsed onto his bed. An hour later, he heard a soft knock.

"Come in." He called out quietly.

Cece entered, looking sheepish. "Um, my nightlight, kind of, um, disappeared, and, um, I need, um –"

"You want a replacement?" Logan guessed.

Cece nodded, and then jumped slightly as a rumble of thunder shook the house.

"I'll get you one tomorrow." Logan mumbled. He kicked back the covers. "Just get in. I'm too tired to do anything right now."

Relieved, Cece climbed in.

As they settled down to go to sleep, Logan's arm again wrapped around her, bringing along feelings of safety and relaxation.

At least tonight, no monsters could get her with her brave big brother to stop them.


End file.
